Mechanism for twisting the ends of wrappers



Dec. 18, 1934.

'A. G. ROSE I MECHANISM FOR TWISTING THE ENDS OF WRAPPERS Filed May 9, 1932 3 SheetsSheet l RNN . Dec. 18, 1934. A. G. ROSE MECHANISM FOR TWISTING THE ENDS OF WBAPPERS Filed May 9, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet Inventor Dec. 18, 1934. A. G. ROSE 1,934,394

' MECHANISM FOR TWISTING THE ENDS QF WRAPPERS Filed May 9, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 [III Patented Dec. 18, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT oFncE MECHANISMFOR. TWISTING THE ENDS F WRAPPERS Alfred German Rose, Gainsborough, England, assignor to Rose Brothers (Gainsborough) Limited, Gainsborough, England Application May 9, 1932', Serial No. 610,246

In Great Britain May '14, 1931 3 Claims. (or. .'9s-'-5) This invention relates to the closure of packtion will now be described, b'y way of examp ages and is concerned with packages formed by only," with reference to the accompanying drawfolding a wrapper about an article so that the ing, in which: wrapper forms an open ended tube of circular, vFigure 1 is an elevation showing a'twisting N polygonal or other cross-section and projects at and wrapping device according to the invention one or both ends beyond the ends of the arand embodiedin a caramel cutting and wrapticl'e. It is a common practice to close the open ping machine;

end of such a package by gripping the project- 1 Figures 2 and 3 showthemechanism of Figure ing portion of the wrapper between a pair of l injother positions;

grippers which cause this portion to collapse Figuresi is a'section on the line 4-4 of Fig- 10 and rotating the grippers relatively to the arurel, and ticle so as to twist the wrapper and form a Figure 5 shows a wrapped caramel. I neck between the article and the grippers. With Figure 6 is an elevation showing a twisting such a package the end of the wrapper beyond and wrapping device as shown in Figure 1 to- 1 the neck is flattened and it is the object of gethe'r'with the means employed for intermitthe present invention to provide amethod of tently "rotating and feeding the jaws and manand apparatus for forming a package in which drel. v v

the portion of the wrapper extending beyond the Like references indicate like parts in all the neck is not flattened but is bell shaped. figures of the drawings.

According to the present invention a method "The mechanism. will be described, for illus- 20 of Closing h p end of a w pp in a p trative purposes, as applied to a caramel cutting a e of the above kind comp e the step i and wrapping machine of the kind described in n e t it mandrel W h the p p j in British patent specification No. 150,076. As wrapper end with the inner end of the mandrel th hi r wen known in the art, the

5 pa d apart from the adjacent end of the operation of the machine as a whole will only-be 5 ticle, gripping the wrapper end between the described briefly, H mandrel and an external gripper and .Iotating 1 A bar of stock is fed by suitablemechanism the mandrel and the gripper tvgeiher'in Yeleto a cutting station, at which individual caratieh tothe article as to closethe Wrapper mels arecut off by a suitable knife. The indiin a heck in h gap between the h h 9f vidual caramelsare pushed each with a wrap- 30 the mandrel and the article while maintaining per m; fr m a u of wrapping paper i t one the extremity .e the wrapper in e b of. a number of pockets inLa pocket wheel. Each matieh by the mahdrel- 1 pocket is'formed by two jaws 10 and 11 pressed The present invention also includes appara t g t e by arsuitable spring (not shown) but the for closing the open end of the wrapper in separated at the cutting station by suitable a Package of the above kind comprising a mechanism to. allow of the caramel being in Viee for holding the package e means serted between them. When the caramel is in for moving h mandrel into the end of the the pocket its wrapper is folded into trough- Wrepper, a supper 'gnpperei meehs for caus' shaped formation so as to partly enclose it.

40 ihg thegripper or gnppers to gnp the wrap The pocket wheel is driven through a suitable 40 per agamst the mandrel and means for Geneva stop motion and rotates. intermittently ihg the mandrel and the gripper grippers carrying each carameland its wrapper first past together relatively to the holding devicea folding mechanism which folds the wrapper Preferably the mandrel ehd the-gripper into the shape of a tube having two open ends.

grippers are mounted fer common translational The partly wrapped package is then conveyed 45 movement and the means for moving the a by the pocket wheel to the position shown in dre i to t d of the pp 0f the p Figure l, in which the package is in alignment a i a o p able to move the mandrel and with twisting andforming mechanism. the gripper or grippers along their axis of rota- Referring. to Figure 1, it will be seen that 0 tion towards the article during the rotation of the caramel 12 is enclosed within a tubular 9 those parts relatively to the holding device so wrapper 13, the ends of which extend beyond as to compensate for the reduction in the efthe caramel and also beyond the jaws 10 and 11 fective length of the wrapper while it is being of the pocket wheel. Two twisting and gripping twisted. I mechanisms are provided but as they are identi- A preferred embodiment of the present inven- .cal in construction and operation only one of 55 them has been illustrated in detail; a description of one applies to the other.

Each mechanism comprises a spindle slidable and rotatably mounted in suitable bearings 16 and having its inner end 17 shaped to form a mandrel. Two grippers 18- and 19' are pivotally mounted at 20 and 21. respectively on the spindle l5 and are connected together by means of gear segments 22 and 23. As shown in Fig;- ure 4, the jaws 24 and 25v of the grippers are shaped to conform with the shape of the mandrel, which, in the present case, is circular and conforms to the shape of the caramel. The grippers are connected together by two springs 26 which tend to cause the jaws 24 and 25" to:

close against the mandrel 17-. The tension of the springs can be adjusted by means. ofnut and screw adjustment 27 in a known manner. Normally, one of the grippers is engaged by a roller 28 on the end. of. a lever 29. With the roller 28 in the position shown in Figure l the gripper 18 is held in the position shown against the tension of the springs 26 and throughthe gear segments 22 and 23 holds the gripper 19 also in the position shown. The lever 29 corresponds to the levers g9 and g16' of' British patent specification No. 150,076 and is operated by a cam and spring in the manner described in this prior specification, being moved from the position of Figure 1 to that of Figure3 to allow the jaws to close.

The spindle 15 carries a wide gear Wheel 30 which meshes with a narrow gear wheel 31 driven through a Geneva. stop motion 52, 53, 58 so as to rotate intermittently. The. spindle 15 is normally pressed to the left into the position shown by a spring 32 engaged at one end with a collar 33 on the spindleand at the other end through a ball-bearing 34' against a frame mem ber 35 which carries the bearings 16. The spindle can be. moved to the right by a lever 36, one end of which engages the free endv of the spindle 15 and the other end' of which carries a roller co-operating with a cam 50 (see Figure 6) corresponding to the cam m2 of British patent specification No. 150,076 aforesaid. This cam is mounted on and rotated with. the main shaft 51 which also carries thedisc 52 and pin 53 of. the Geneva mechanism which controls the rotation of the spindles 15. The star wheel 58 of this Geneva mechanism is mounted on a shaft which carries the gear-wheel 54 meshing with the long. gear-wheel 30 on the spindle 15. Also meshing with the gear-wheel 30 is a gear-wheel 55 which transmits the drive through the gearwheel 58 and shaft 5'7 to the gear 31 meshing with the long. gear-wheel 30 on the other spindie 15. The cams 50 of the'present construction are modified somewhat from. those shown in the aforesaid British specification in order to produce the greater, and special, movement of the spindles (later described) than that of the corresponding parts in the machine described in the British specification.

The operation of the parts is as follows.

While thepocket wheel is rotated the twisting and forming mechanism is inthe position shown in Figure 1. The pocket wheel comes to rest with the wrapper 13 substantially in alignment with the inandrels 1'7. Then the levers 36 are rocked by their cams and move the spindles 15 towards one another, thereby moving the parts carried by the spindles into the position shown in Figure 2, in which the mandrels are located within the openends'of' the tubularwrapper but are spaced away from the ends of the articles to be wrapped. The extent to which the mandrels are spaced away from the article must be sufiicient to allow of the wrapper being twisted into a neck between the article and the mandrel. The levers 29 are then rocked from the position of Figure 2 to that of Figure 3, permitting the grippers l8 and 19 to be rocked by the springs 26 so that their jaws 24 and 25 engage the out side of the wrapper and grip it firmly against the mandrels. The gear wheels 31 then commence to rotate and drive the gear wheels 30 and therefore: the spindles 15 through a halfrevolution into the position shown in Figure 3. Concurrently the levers 36 are rocked and move the. spindles 15 still. further towards one another so as to compensate for the shrinkage in the effective length of the wrapper lying between the ends of the article and the ends of the mandrels owing to the twisting operation. The parts will thenbe in the position shown in Figure 3 and the closure of the package will have been completed;

The spindles 15 may both be rotated in' the same direction or they may be rotated in opposite directions and the rotation may be one revolution or one-and-a-half revolutions (as would be the case with the mechanism shown in Figure 6) instead of half a revolution, as stated above.

After the closure of the package has been completed as explained above, the levers. 29 are rocked back to the position in Figure 1 and separate the jaws 24 and 25 of the grippers- The levers 36 are then released by their cams and the springs 32 move the spindles 15 away from one another back to the position shownin Figure 1. The pocket wheel then commences its next intermittent step of movement bringing a new package into alignment with themandrels 17 and conveying the closed package to a discharge station where the jaws 10 and 11 open and release the caramel.

The shape of the mandrel 17 and the jaws24 and 25 may be varied in accordance with the shape of the caramel that is to be Wrapped, for example, if the caramel is. square in cross-section the mandrels would also be square andthe jaws 24 and- 25 wou1d. conform. to the shape of the mandrels. The wrapped articleis shown in Figure 5;,from which itwillbe seen that it comprises a tubular portion 3.7. enclosing thearticle and terminatingin two necks 38,. the endsi 39 of the wrapper beyond the necks 38being bellshaped.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for closing the. open. end of a wrapper surroundingian article tobe wrapped, comprising amandrel, a holder for the partially wrapped article arranged to hold. the open end of the wrapper inalignment with the mandrel, means for moving the mandrel into the open end of the wrapper, grippers associated with the mandrel, means for closing the grippers to clamp the wrapper between the grippers and the mandrel after the mandrel has been moved into the wrapper while the mandrel is" stationary; and means for rotating the mandrel and the grippers after the wrapper has" been clamped.

2. An apparatus for closing the open end of a wrapper surrounding an article to be Wrapped, comprising a mandrel, a holder for the partially wrapped articlearranged to hold'the open end of the wrapper in alignment with the mandrel, means for moving the m'andrelintotheopen end of the wrapper, grippers pivotally mounted on the mandrel, means for closing the grippers to clamp the wrapper between the grippers and the mandrel after the mandrel has been moved into the wrapper while the mandrel is stationary, and means for rotating the mandrel and the grippers after the wrapper has been clamped.

3. An apparatus for closing the open end of a wrapper surrounding an article to be wrapped, comprising a mandrel, a holder for the partially wrapped article arranged to hold the open end of the wrapper in alignment with the mandrel,

means for moving the mandrel into the open end of the wrapper, grippers pivotally mounted on the mandrel, means for opening and holding the grippers open, spring means for closing the grippers to clamp the wrapper between the grippers and the mandrel after the mandrel has been moved into the wrapper while the mandrel is stationary, and means for rotating the mandrel and the grippers. after the wrapper has been clamped. I

ALFRED GERMAN ROSE. 

